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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2439626 No.2439626 [Reply] [Original]

Why hasn't America adopted the metric system?

>> No.2439631

We really need to

>> No.2439633

Same reason why Britain still drives on the left side of the road.

It's hard to convince millions of people to change.

>> No.2439636

Because it's goddamn everywhere, and would take decades to properly adopt.
Everywhere that matters uses it, who gives a fuck how a store sells a TV, the R&D department designs it as X centimeters long, Y wide. Who gives a shit if it's converted to inches for the mouth breathing masses?

>> No.2439652

we are running both systems next to each other, just for kicks.

>> No.2439658

>>2439633

NOPE

Driving on the left is better for right handed people.

Metric is better for science.

UK 2
USA 0

>> No.2439661

I think time will tell which is the superior system, it's just a matter of time until the rest of the world reverts to inches...

>> No.2439669

i would love to say that it's just because they're retarded but really its just damn hard to get out of established conventions; astronomers, for example, use units and coordinate systems that are all kinds of fucked up.

To really change you pretty much just have to wait for everyone used to the old system to die but honestly, if every other country of the world managed it (bar one) then they really need to just fucking accept that imperial is useless and stop.

>> No.2439676

>>2439626
Ont of these things is not like the other, one of these things, doesn't belong...

>> No.2439677

>>2439658
>Driving on the left is better for right handed people.

What the fuck am I reading? That's like saying flipping a book from right to left (like the only chinese style) is better for right handed people. It makes no difference, the "better" one is the one you're more adapted to.

Plus, you should be driving with both hands you dangerous 17-year-old.

>> No.2439692

>>2439677

Nope. It decides whih way you turn off and on roads, go round roundabouts etc. Thh french drive on the right because Naepolean was a lefty and as we know, the US is a french coloney.

>> No.2439693

>>2439677
Research in 1969 by J. J. Leeming showed countries driving on the left have a lower collision rate than countries driving on the right. It has been suggested this is partly because humans are more commonly right-eye dominant than left-eye dominant. In left-hand traffic, the predominantly better-performing right eye is used to monitor oncoming traffic and the driver's wing mirror. In right-hand traffic, oncoming traffic and the driver's wing mirror are handled by the predominantly weaker left eye. In addition, it has been argued that left sided driving is safer for elderly people given the likelihood of their having visual attention deficits on the left side and the need at intersections to watch out for vehicles approaching on the near-side lane. Furthermore, in a RHD car with manual transmission, the driver has their right (i.e. in the majority of people, dominant) hand on the steering wheel at all times and uses their left hand to change gear.

>> No.2439712

imperial is retarded as fuck.

Humans use base 10, not base derp.

>> No.2439725

>>2439669
>astronomers, for example, use units and coordinate systems that are all kinds of fucked up
name one system of coordinates still in use which is awkward after you have learned to use it and provides no benefits

>> No.2439736

But they do in science? I know trolling Americans is fun, but I never understood why the imperial thing is particularly bad. They obviously use standard units for exact things like science and units like feet in everyday life. It might not be perfect, but it's acceptable.
Perhaps imperial units are even better for everyday life? I don't know, we don't use them here either.

>> No.2439740

One word.

Freedom.

>> No.2439765

wtf is ounces doing there?

>> No.2439854

>>2439725

Metric system.

USA- 1
Rest of the world- 0

>> No.2439861

>>2439736

Nope, I've worked with a number of American scientists and they use the SI system, just like the rest of the world's scientists.

Using Imperial for science is massively retarded.

>> No.2439907

Piff whatever, I get 44 kilo-yards for the Deka-cup of gas

>> No.2440860

Because it would take effort and honestly, there's not really a difference. .554 Cm, 1/8 inch... it's all numbers anyways. One is based on 10s, the other is based on being divisible by many numbers. Changing all the signs would cost money and honestly no one here really cares.

>> No.2440874

>>2439626
We're inching our way into the metric system.

>> No.2440876

Americans who matter DO use the metric system. What the fuck does it matter if some hick in Texas doesn't know what a millimeter is? He doesn't do science. I do science and everyone I know does science and we use the metric system.

>> No.2440888

>>2439861

Only because most scientists use metric, and it's stupid to use different measurements. Saying it's retarded for scientists to use imperial is exactly the same as saying it's retarded for Americans to use metric for driving.

>>2439712
We also divide by many numbers, thus 12 inch foot. You can divide it by 2, 3, 4, or 6. Inches divide into all sorts of exact fractions. It's very useful for crafting things.

>>2439740

WORD

>> No.2440898
File: 92 KB, 400x400, metricsystem.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2440898

Because they're braindead sociopathic fat pieces of shit.

>> No.2440900

>>2440876

Scientists only use metric because most scientists used metric when it got organized, and it's easier to all use the same system.

Most Americans use imperial, it makes sense to use imperial for us. They teach both in school, don't worry about us being illiterate to the rest of the world.

>> No.2440908

>Why hasn't America adopted the metric system?

Because it fucks with the heads of people that steal our research.

>> No.2440913

>>2440908

Citation please?

>> No.2440920

>>2439693

This makes no sense. Seeing oncoming traffic better shouldn't reduce the collision rate.

Think of all the people you know who have been in traffic accidents. How many of them were from head-on collisions?

I don't know of this study you speak of, but I'm willing to bet it's stupid.

>> No.2440922

>>2440913
I think the Americans invented peanut butter, give'em that.

Not much beyond that, though.

>> No.2440924
File: 25 KB, 437x412, sock face.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2440924

IN THIS THREAD

>Metric is so much simpler than Imperial, anyone can understand it
>>Americans use Imperial because they can't understand metric

>> No.2440925

>>2440922
Microchips and nuclear bombs.

>> No.2440926
File: 8 KB, 208x242, fat man.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2440926

>>2440898
Hey !

>> No.2440927

> implying inches aren't defined in terms of the metric system
> implying all the metric system does is use fancy prefixes for powers of ten, which you can do with any basis, including inches

>> No.2440934

>>2440922

And, you know, modern electrical systems.

Oh, and the Internet!

And wasn't there something about nuclear energy? I know some of the scientists were European, but still... they did their research here.

Also, you know, space and such.

>> No.2440939

>>2440927

>failing to realize you can't define a measurement in terms of another measurement that didn't exist when the original measurement came into use

> confusing a conversion rate with a definition

>> No.2440942

because it would be a huge waste of time effort and money to change everything to liters, meters and kilograms.

Just think about the road markers, You'd have to change every mile marker on every highway in america to a kilometer marker. And then think about all the exit numberings that would be changed.

There's not real benefit for using one system over another. Other than one being a bit simpler to learn than another.

>>2439633
Britain isn't the only nation that drives on the left.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg

>> No.2440944

>>2439740

Go eat a dick.

>> No.2440950

I have never met an American who had a problem with the imperial system. Metric makes sense for science, because you have to do a lot of math. You might need to do some crazy formula that involves nanometers and picograms, but uses a constant in mg or something.

In the non-science world, how often do you need to convert units?
"Hey, where does Tom live??"
"Oh, about 5 miles down the road."
"Miles? I need to know IN FEET!! IF ONLY THERE WERE A SIMPLE WAY TO CONVERT!"

This is what kills me about Celsius. People say it makes more sense because water freezes at 0 and boils at 100. I say, who the fuck cares about water? I want to know what kind of clothes to wear outside. The ideal temperature system would be on a 1 to 100 scale, with 0 the coldest it will get, and 100 the hottest. FAHRENHEIT BITCHES!!

>> No.2440954

My mother was taught the metric system in school. She is always confused by imperial measurements whenever they come up as she was never taught them. When she was in school, everyone was certain they'd switch over to the metric system.

The reason they didn't were road signs. Pretty much the entire roadway system of the US would have to be completely redone. Millions of signs and exit numbers completely reassigned.

>> No.2440960
File: 35 KB, 640x480, your_restistance.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2440960

>mfw Europeons

>> No.2440963

What they say:

>>lol u amerikkkunts are so fat and stupid

What they think:

>>i wish my country ranked #1 in the world in scientific research and development, like america

America: 1
Europe: 0

>> No.2440977

>complain about imperial
>routinely use atm, mmHg, bar, poise, Angstroms, (fuck the little circle) Hartree, eV, amu, and various other non-standard units.

>> No.2440991

>>2440950

The one thing I will give the metric system is small volumes. When cooking, it's annoying to convert between tsp, tbsp, cups, pts, qts, and gallons.

But, like many Americans, I got through 4th grade, and I learned how to convert. (Big ups to gallon man).

>> No.2440999

>>2440950

Also, there IS simple conversion between miles and feet. Just instead of being 1000, it's 5280.

Also, just to note: 5280 can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 22, 24, 30, etc...
1000 is divisible by 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, etc. Far fewer, which makes exact division much harder.

>> No.2441006

>>2440991
>rationalizing a complete waste of energy
Why are you arguing in favour of something which admittedly annoys you?

>> No.2441021

>>2440999
>simple conversion
>dividing by 5280 in your head

Alright, so 123/5280 = 0.023295454.. is easy to do in your head for ya?
Let's compare this with division by 1000:
123/1000 = 0.123
That certainly was hard.

>1000 is divisible by 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, etc. Far fewer, which makes exact division much harder.
Are your parents brother and sister? You do not need to divide 1000 by anything, you divide by thousand and this simply shifts the decimal dot.

Inbred fucktard.

>> No.2441022

>>2441006

It annoys him in one way. On the whole, he obviously finds the system more usable.

>> No.2441025

Think of it this way:

You know metric. You know how far a km is, you know what a kg weighs. Imagine if I came up to you and said "Dude, you should convert to the Carter system. Metric is so arbitrary. What's a meter based on? What's a kg? The Carter system uses SCIENCE! One Dennon is the radius of a proton. All lengths are based on that, using the prefixes bara-, emno-, trapa-, ketta-, etc. IT'S SO MUCH EASIER!! CONVERT NOW! (Also, a bunch of people that you don't really know are doing it.)

You'd probably be like "Fuck you dude, I like the metric system."

And you'd be RIGHT! Changing the basic measurement system of a bazillion people is stupid.

>> No.2441027

Metric is used in virtually every scientific or academic context in America. It's only "personal" (for lack of a better word) uses that still use Imperial.

Furthermore, we learn to use BOTH systems, in addition to the conversion between them. So when faced with either type of problem, we know how to convert the units into something usable.

It's really more of a logistics issue for switching. As has been brought up, the cost both in money and man-hours would be exorbitant to replace, say, every roadsign on every major road across the US. But the fact is that we have absolutely no issue when dealing with either system. In fact, it's really only the Europeans that I hear complaining about it.

>> No.2441037

>>2441021

The thing I was talking about is the other way.

If I need to divide a mile by 3, that's EXACTLY 1760 feet. If I have to divide a kilometer by 3, that's 333.33333333333333333333... meters... simple math, but have fun getting an exact measurement.

>> No.2441043

>>2441006

>a complete waste of energy
Nooooot really a huge waste of energy there.

2 quarts
Shit, I only have cups.
2 cups in a pint
2 pints in a quart
that makes 4 cups in a quart
therefore, 2 quarts is 8 cups
not hard
definitely not hard enough to make me want to change how i measure EVERYTHING!

>> No.2441045

>>2441021

> we're so much more sophisticated than you americans
>>all people who disagree with me are inbred fucktards

>> No.2441047

>>2440939
>retard who doesn't even know how his imperial units are defined.
they are defined in metric units. their ancient non-metric definitions have already been discarded.

>> No.2441051

>>2440934

Sorry you mentioned Space?

Russia > America

>>2440963

Europe is not a country.

>> No.2441057

>>2441021
generally when you're trying to simplify in your head you don't need to be overly accurate.

123/5280 is relatively close to 100/5000 which is 1/50 and is a simple to do in your head.

Besides how often do you really need to convert? Only exceptions being between teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, and fluid ounces when cooking. And even then there are 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/8 variants of many of those measures so conversions are irrelevant.

>> No.2441061

>>2441051
I guess youve never heard of the EUROPEAN UNION, dumbass.

>> No.2441066

>>2441057
> how often do you need to convert
Basically never, which is why these arguments are so retarded.

>> No.2441068

>>2441037
>EXACTLY
Someone is having a problem with decimal expansion of rational numbers, I take it.

Btw, I find it considerably easier to divide 1000 by anything than 5280, which is completely arbitrary, while 1000 is a very naturally occuring number in base 10.

But keep trying to argue for your inferior bullshit system that only housewives and school-shooting losers use.

>> No.2441071

>>2441047

They are defined in metric and metric is defined by the speed of light, so they are defined by the speed of light, we just freeloaded and didn't convert to an exact "1 foot is the distance light travels in however much of a second which is however many vibrations of an atom of some sort."

Metric changed definitions too, a meter used to be 1/1000000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole passing through Paris.

>> No.2441086

>>2441068

So wait, 5280 isn't a natural number? Did we invent it?

Your argument makes no sense. Also, I like how instead of a rational answer, you just insult me. Ad Hominim attacks are a clear sign you're losing a debate -- and this isn't even a very hard debate to win.

SOLUTION TO THIS THREAD: EVERYONE USES WHAT THEY KNOW, A UNIVERSAL STANDARD WOULD BE USEFUL BUT NO SYSTEM IS INHERENTLY BETTER THAN ANOTHER, SOME ARE JUST SIMPLER AND MORE POPULAR.

>> No.2441087

Just tell American men that if we convert to metric they get to measure their dicks in centimeters.

Suddenly, instead of a shy, embarrassing 4 inches, you're a proud, confident 10 centimeters!

America would convert overnight.

>> No.2441090

>>2441043
>definitely not hard enough to make me want to change how i measure EVERYTHING!
Wow, so the statement "we Americans can use both!" was a blatant lie?
I suspected as much.

>>2441066
first of all, the American idiot started by saying that it's actually EASIER to fucking calculate in your head with marvelous numbers such as 5280, which is just complete bullshit, as should be obvious to even the average American.
Secondly, saying "oh well, the flaw doesn't show up often enough so I don't care" is a retarded defense of a fundamentally defective system.

>> No.2441095

>>2441087

Just tell european men that if they converted to imperial, their embarising 140 cm belly would be only 40 inches!

>> No.2441099

>>2441090

No, I said it was easier to ACT on the calculations. Dividing 1000 by 3 may be easy, but getting an exact measurement of 333.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
333333333333333333333... meters is way harder than 1760 feet exactly.

>> No.2441102

>>2441090
Yes, because partitioning miles in terms of feet is such an everyday occurrence.

>> No.2441105

It's litre not liter, amerifat.

And we don't use "ounces" either.

>> No.2441127
File: 61 KB, 616x450, Texas Europe Size Comparison Map.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441127

>>2440876
As a "hick" in Texas, I feel obligated to say that there is a ton of biotechnology research firms here, along with a lot of top tear medical research institutions. And they all use metric.

>>2439658
All the UK-fags in this thread are hipocrits, even though they drive on the left their distance units on road signs and speed limits are in miles and mph.

>> No.2441131

LOLOLOL AT THE AMERIFATS AND EUROFAGS IN THIS THREAD SPEAKING IN FAG-LISH. We should all use Esperanto because it's better. IT'S BETTER!!! Americans don't speak it because they're fat. Europeans don't speak it because they're communists.

Everyone in this thread is dumb.

Except me.

>> No.2441140

>>2441099

Actually, they are equally imposible

>> No.2441146

>>2441102

That's what I said aaaalll the wayyy back here
>>2440950
But people wanted to ignore me.

CONVERTING UNITS IS NOT COMMON ENOUGH TO MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO SWITCH.
/thread

>> No.2441147

Um... what?

>> No.2441158

>>2441099
wow, then you're even stupider than I thought.

Listen, the square root of two is irrational, it has an infinite decimal representation. However, I can construct sqrt(2) meters using a right triangle with ease.

Your problem is that you're 10 years old. I do not suffer from this problem. See, every physical measurement has a more or less well defined error. Depending on how large the error can be we have to use more or less precise equipment.

Thus your "exact" number of feets will actually (in reality; welcome to reality!) be some weird number with lots of decimal places and also it's kind of undefined after a certain amount of precision since atoms aren't localizable to arbitrary precision.

So really, you don't have any point at fucking all. Just cram it already.

>> No.2441164

>>2441158

So all measurements are pointless and we shouldn't do them at all?

You're doing some insane rationalization.

>> No.2441171

>>2441158
*feet

>> No.2441172
File: 24 KB, 640x480, you are dumb.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441172

>>2441158
>stupider

>> No.2441190

>>2441061

I'm european . And yes there is something called European Union that is formed by different COUNTRIES.But we made it so you could point it out on the map easier. My country is 600kmx250km 10Million people. Do the math and try to point it out. Don't insult my intelligence, because if what I'm saying is to dificult for you to understand it doesn't mean it's wrong.

>> No.2441195

The customary system is obviously still working and the USA is still an economic powerhouse so laypeople don't have any incentive to switch. The scientific fields mostly all switched a long time ago.

>> No.2441201

>>2441172
actually I'm just a non-native English speaker.
You wanna take a bet that I can talk German better than you? Does this make me smarter than you?
Yeah, I don't think so, wannabe grammarnazi.

>>2441164
>So all measurements are pointless and we shouldn't do them at all?
>hurf
what in the name of fuck are you talking about?
The very first thing you learn about experimental physics in university is how accurate your experiments can be at the most. It's a simple fact of reality that all measurements are finite in precision. If you think that this makes all measurements pointless then you are, uhm, how do I put this, stupid.

>> No.2441204

It makes no sense to change the existing infrastructure, spending billions of dollars on everything, converting to metric. The way it works now, scientists can use the metric when they want to/need to, and everyone can opperate in an environment free of unnecessary changes which do nothing to enhance their lives but cost them billions more in tax dollars and administrative fees.

>> No.2441212

>>2441201

I'm pretty sure error in household measurements is not anywhere near the scale of rounding off 1/10 of a cm because you can't get an exact measurement, instead of just using 1 foot.

Also, I can tell you're German from your lack of sarcasm receptors.

>> No.2441229

>>2441212

>Also, I can tell you're German from your lack of sarcasm receptors.

LOOL nice one

>> No.2441235

A much better question is why does the world still use base 10 when we should be using base 8 or base 12. Or why do we still use pi as the ratio of circumference to diameter, when it should be circumference to radius?

>> No.2441257

>>2441235
10 because of ten fingers, but yeah, base 7 or 8 would probably be best for short-term memory reasons.

Tau was here, pi is a fgt

>> No.2441452

GOD, [group] IS SO STUPID. WHY DO THEY USE [system] INSTEAD OF [my system]? [their system] IS OBVIOUSLY INFERIOR. THEY'RE ALL SO STUPID THEY CAN'T EVEN USE [my system]. THEY'RE ALL [random stereotype that is never true].

>>[post]
GOD YOU'RE SUCH A FUCKING RETARD. HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF [complicated sounding concept you're not really familiar with]? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT [utterly disregard or fail to understand what original poster was saying], YOU STUPID FUCK?

ALL YOU [stereotype, but combined with name of group] CAN GO DIE IN A HOLE. INBRED WORTHLESS FUCKS.

>> No.2441473

>Why hasn't America adopted the metric system?

Because it is just as arbitrary as the current system. And it works so well for telling time. And it works so well for measuring digital information, which grows less important every day.

>> No.2441501

>>2441452
Metric System:
10 millimeters = 1 cm
10cm = 1dam
10dam = 1m
1000m = 1km

Whereas "standard":
12 INCHES IN A FEWT
3 FEET IN A YARHD
1760 YARHDS IN A MAILE

See? It's fucking retarded.

>> No.2441509

>>2441501

Metric system:

Arbitrary number in a centimeter
Arbitrary number in a meter
Arbitrary number in a kilometer

Imperial:

Arbitrary number in a inch
Arbitrary number in a foot
Arbitrary number in a mile

GOD IMPERIAL IS SO RETARDED

>> No.2441511

>>2441473
>implying there are metric or customary methods of valuing digital information or time

>> No.2441516
File: 296 KB, 900x900, 1294544447246.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441516

>>2441509

>> No.2441517

>itt eurofags jelly cuz 1 km < 1 mi

>> No.2441538

>>2441501

I know this is hard for you to understand, but 10 is not a magic number. Basing your measurements on it is fucking arbitrary as shit.

A meter used to be 1 millionth the distance from the north pole to the equator. Of course it was an arbitrary guess and never correct. Now it is it the distance travelled by light in vacuum in 1⁄299,792,458 of a second. 299,792,458 is not an easy 10 number (it is not 300,000,000 or better yet 100,000,000 or some shit), it is just another arbitrary number in an arbitrary measurement system.

Simple minds think it is simple and makes sense. Sophisticated minds know it is arbtrary and don't give a fuck.

>> No.2441539

so viele trollen, in dieses Thread

>> No.2441555
File: 69 KB, 500x375, too deep for you.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441555

>>2441538

>> No.2441556

>>2441509
maximumtrolling.jpg

Because Base 10 is arbitrary.

>> No.2441560

>>2441556

It is.

>> No.2441566

>>2441556

>Because Base 10 is arbitrary.

Because having 10 fingers means the universe is based on 10.

Tard detected.

>> No.2441572

>>2441538
You would like Alfred North Whitehead's writings on measurement. He covers it in The Concept of Nature, The Principle of Relativity, and of course in Process and Reality.

>> No.2441575

I say we stop using metric and start using natural units.

Universe: 1
Humanity: 0

>> No.2441585

If you want to go all reductionism into number theory, you may, but for human understanding - NOT accordance with reality - Base ten is a much more rational approach to measurement and is VOLUMES more consistent than 12, 3 and 1670. Trolls aside, anybody who prefers standard is a blithering idiot.

>> No.2441600

>>2441585

Unless you grew up with it, in which case it makes perfect sense.

I fail to understand how a group that literally has to base their measurements of of 10 because they can't do math can say that THEY'RE the smart ones.

>> No.2441601

>>2441585

>Base ten is a much more rational approach to measurement and is VOLUMES more consistent than 12, 3 and 1670

It is 100 o'clock and it is time for me to download a 1 megabyte file, which is exactly 1,000 bytes (a byte being 10 bits of course).

So how about NO retard.

>> No.2441607

ITT:
INTELLIGENT PEOPLE - "OUR NUMBERING SYSTEM IS CONSISTENT AND IS READILY ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THE DIFFERENCE OF ONE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE TO THE NEXT"
RETARDS - "I'M INCOSISTENT BECAUSE FUCK YOU"

>> No.2441608

Metric system is better, but it's still imperfect.
You want perfection? Use plank units for everything (distance,length) - it's what the universe works with. Use base 2 or 16 to represent numbers.

>> No.2441610

>>2441566
Base 2 was here.

Go fuck yourself.

I mean, shit, we can do 1023 by hand!

>> No.2441615

Metric>Imperial, just like how Dvorak>QWERTY

Both aren't perfect, put one if definitely better.

/thread

>> No.2441624

>>2441610
By HANDS, IF we use fingers as BITS.

>> No.2441625

>>2441610

Have you been actually diagnosed as a tard?

>> No.2441626

>>2441615
Colemak shits all over dvorak kthnx.

>> No.2441631

>>2441615
>>2441626

meanwhile, the people who do actual work and don't spend all their time arguing about pointless shit continue to use qwerty

>> No.2441641

>>2441600
>>2441631
I'd switch to Dvorak if I wouldn't have to switch every god damn computer I'm using in public to it.

>> No.2441661

>>2441641

That's why I switched back to qwerty after having already learned dvorak. First day in physics lab, need to use excel. FUCK.

>> No.2441678

>>2441624
It wasn't a quantification of how many hands it takes. You don't say "well, I can do all that math by hand" and then end up using two hands and getting bitched at. Its a phrase.

>> No.2441674 [DELETED] 

Why don't we measure all speeds as fractions of c?

For example
(50 km/hr) / c = 4.6×10^-8
(90 km/hr) / c = 8.3×10^-8
(107 km/hr) /c = 1.0×10^-8

But one couldn't cover a sign in orders of magnitude, so a new unit is needed to do away with that 10^-8. And thus the Lumineight was born.

0.2×10^-8 Lumineights = 22 km/hr = 13.5 mi/hr
0.4×10^-8 Lumineights = 43 km/hr = 27 mi/hr
0.6×10^-8 Lumineights = 64 km/hr = 40 mi/hr
0.8×10^-8 Lumineights = 86 km/hr = 54 mi/hr
1.0×10^-8 Lumineights = 107 km/hr = 67 mi/hr

>> No.2441680

Why don't we measure all speeds as fractions of c?

For example
(50 km/hr) / c = 4.6×10^-8
(90 km/hr) / c = 8.3×10^-8
(107 km/hr) /c = 1.0×10^-8

But one couldn't cover a sign in orders of magnitude, so a new unit is needed to do away with that 10^-8. And thus the Lumineight was born.

0.2 Lumineights = 22 km/hr = 13.5 mi/hr
0.4 Lumineights = 43 km/hr = 27 mi/hr
0.6 Lumineights = 64 km/hr = 40 mi/hr
0.8 Lumineights = 86 km/hr = 54 mi/hr
1.0 Lumineights = 107 km/hr = 67 mi/hr

>> No.2441698
File: 10 KB, 252x250, 1275075638186.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441698

while the meter may be arbitrary, the several magnitude-quantifiers are simply powers of ten, the base our number system is based on. (Yes, do not deny it. Of course computers use binary and number theorists p-adic integers, but fuck you, I don't care)
So a kilometer is a kilo (thousand) meters.
A centimeter is a centi (one 100th) of a meter.

This is what we're talking about, not the unit of a meter per se.

Butthurt murrikans are butthurt.

>> No.2441706
File: 59 KB, 797x600, troll-harder03.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441706

>>2441698
> implying you can't use order-of-magnitude prefixes in any other system

>> No.2441715

>>2441698
Butthurt? Where? Any self respecting American scientist wants the nation at large to switch to metric.

>> No.2441722

>>2441706
of course you can, you could for example use powers of pi, or powers of gamma, the euler masheroni constant.

But you fucktarded americans aren't even using ONE constant and taking powers of that, you use a whole bunch of them and they all are completely arbitrary, while 10 is the number our decimal (hear that? DECIMAL? it's because it base fucking 10, you fucking 8 year old) number system is based on, which makes conversion using powers of ten convenient in calculations.

>> No.2441725

ITT: People don't know what that US Customary Measures aren't "Imperial" units.

>> No.2441734

>>2441722
>calling people "fucktarded"
You need to be less mad. Find a doctor, act mad, get prescription from doctor, walk prescription over to clinic, hand prescription over to pharmacist, wait about half an hour, take medicine from pharmacist, and then take a doctor prescribed chill pill.

>> No.2441736

>>2441722
...

because multiplying by ten is sooooo common.

>> No.2441740

>>2441734
I didn't call people fucktarded, I called Americans fucktarded.

>> No.2441751

>>2441736
lulz, you obviously have never seen any real world physics. There's powers of ten floating around fucking everywhere.

If you're talking from your household perspective you might as well be measuring time in tea spoons, heat in square feet and volume in seconds for all I care.

>> No.2441770

>>2441751
And if we used base 12, there'd be powers of 12 "floating around everywhere." Cool circular argument. 0/10

>> No.2441786

>>2441770
how's it circular? We ARE using base 10. Even you Americans are.

Are you fucking retarded? (rhetoric question)

>> No.2441798
File: 36 KB, 457x500, 1266009523473.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441798

Because all units of measures are arbitrary.
Plus we didn't want bother with the switching over anyway. Like it's hard to use conversion factors the few times metric is absolutely necessary

>> No.2441805
File: 133 KB, 500x390, 1241704131788.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441805

>>2441786
> use consequence of base ten use to justify base ten use
> how is it circular
> rhetoric instead of rhetorical

>> No.2441949

god imperial is so retarded, "LET'S HAVE INCHES BE MADE UP OF FRACTIONS LOL"

>> No.2441969

>>2441805
>use consequence of base ten use to justify base ten use
See? You really are stupid.

If we were all using base 12 I'd have no problem with using powers of 12. But we are NOT using base 12, and since we presumably have to use some base, we as well use base 10, since we already are using it. (It's arbitrary, but any other choice would also be arbitrary, so who gives a fuck?)

The conversion factors must match the base of the number system otherwise you get horrible digit changes. Are you really *this* dense?

>> No.2441975

>>2441969

>admit your own position is arbitrary
>>insult imperial for being arbitrary
>>> ????????
>>>>PROFIT

>> No.2441980
File: 31 KB, 374x372, Horloge-republicaine1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2441980

>>2441949
HUR DUR 12 INCHES IN A FOOT AND 5280 FT IN A MILE HDURUDHURRR

12 hr clocks is retarded too. pic related, its a French clock, decimal time was introduced in France after the French revolution. isn't France responsible for the SI system too? and they happen to be one of the most atheist countries in Europe as well, what a coincidence, atheism goes hand in hand with logic and rationality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time

>> No.2441989

>>2441975
omg you freaking fucktard. How can you be this retarded? It's not about being arbitrary, it's about what's a sane convention to make calculations as painless as possible.
The fucktarded Amhurrican system couldn't be made to work in ANY base because the conversion factors are a bunch of completely different numbers.
It's not base 12, not base 3, note base 1760, not base 5280, not nothing, it's simply inconsistent in every way.

and BY the FUCKING way, now that we're using the metric system using powers of ten for conversion of different units is the ONLY sane approach. As soon as base ten was the base we used metric system stopped being arbitrary and became necessary.

You of course wouldn't fucking understand.

>> No.2441995

>>2441989
*now that we're using base ten

>> No.2442019

>Bitches don't know about mah decimal inches.

>> No.2443478

>>2441989

"Once we started using my system using my system became the only way to do things."

You do understand you're a fucking retard, right? You're getting freaked out and screaming about FUCKING LENGTHS.

I have to go in a few minutes to go WORK ON MY FUCKING ROBOT because obviously all Americans are stupid and incapable of complex things.

inb4 liessss :www.marinrobotics.com

>> No.2443533

They have. In science, engineering, the military, basically any field where it makes a difference.

It hardly makes any difference in day-to-day living so they continue to use customary units. The only metric unit to largely replace a customary one is the liter, and thats only because it sounds nicer than "quart".

>> No.2443690

>>2441980

Seconds are already si unit.

>> No.2443719

Clearly, the whole world should use a system based on fundamental constants, so that "speed of light" = 1 = plancks constant = boltzmanns constant. Then use prefixes to get to everyday velocities, temperatures etc. This is clearly the logical choice.

>> No.2443747

Our scientists and engineers use metric

>> No.2443943

The only annoyance I have an an engineer in America in the pound-force. I must ask who the fucked decided to define it as the force that moves 32.2 pounds 1 foot per second? It's makes for damn annoying conversions that at times can become tedious because if gravity can be assumed to be 32.2 feet per second, then the pound-force is equal to the pound-mass.

Okay, I'm done ranting. Personally, I don't care about either one. I use what is put in-front of me by my company, and I can convert between measurements if needed. Furthermore, I usually just use poundals instead of the aforementioned pound-force for quick work, assuming it's allowed.

Honestly, both systems are fine. At this point it's just a dick waving contest. A scientist that can't convert in the first place shouldn't be a scientist.

>> No.2443968

For science obviously the metric system is better, using a base 10 system is superior.

For everyday life I think Imperial is fine, if not better. To have a foot thats divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6 ends up working fantastically for estimation. Think of how efficient the time system is, a base ten system might work but wouldn't you rather be able to divide your hour into 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, 3, 2.... increments. In general it makes for simple estimation and the ability for exactness in everyday life to have imperial.

With no logical division points metric is hard to use for simple tasks. Maybe not hard but isnt convenient. Also I am Bio/Chem major at a US university. Finishing my senior year about to go to graduate school.

>> No.2443993

>>2443943
Dude, nobody uses the poundal. If anything, people will usually convert pound-mass to slugs since a pound-force is a slug-foot per second squared.

Or just convert everything to SI and feel the glory.

>> No.2444007

>>2443993

People in this thread make too many assumptions. If my company is fine with it I'll use it. We typically use poundals but we'll convert it to either pound-force or newtons depending on the situations.

>> No.2444021

Hey guys! I say we start using the toof! One toof will be equal to 32.2 feet and will help with pound-force!

Or for something for innovative, let's use the dnoces! It will be equal to 1/(32.2)^(1/2) seconds!

>> No.2444102

simple question imperialfags


How many pints of water in a hectare swimming pool thats a foot deep?

How many litres of water in a kilometer swiming pool thats a metre deep?

which one is easier to do in your head?

>> No.2444106

>>2444102
Square kilometer *

sorry